10,000 out of 12,000 sexually explicit pictures uploaded by teens were reposted by parasite websites

The Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) found that 88 percent of nude or sexually explicit photos/videos posted by teens online are stolen reposted without permission.

The IWF study took a look at 12,224 risque teen images/videos from 68 websites (like social networks) and found that 10,776 of them had been reposted without permission by "parasite" porn websites, which stole the images from commonplace sites like Facebook. The study was conducted over a 47-hour period during four weeks.

"This research gives an unsettling indication of the number of images and videos on the Internet featuring young people performing sexually explicit acts or posing," said Susie Hargreaves, CEO of IWF. "It also highlights the problem of control of these images -- once an image has been copied on to a parasite website, it will no longer suffice to simply remove the image from the online account.

"We need young people to realize that once an image or a video has gone online, they may never be able to remove it entirely."

The study was unable to analyze pictures or messages exchanged over email, smartphone messages or social networks that are protected by firewalls, but it did mention that some of the pictures were taken from stolen cell phones and placed on parasite websites.

The IWF report also gave examples of some teens that were deeply affected by having sexually explicit pictures placed on parasite websites. One example was a girl who placed naked pictures on the Internet, then lost control of them as other sites began reposting them.

"I came to regret posting photographs of myself naively on the Internet and tried to forget about it, but strangers recognized me from the photographs and made lewd remarks at school," said the girl. "I endured so much bullying because of this photograph and the others...I was eventually admitted for severe depression and was treated for a suicide attempt."